The primary driver of Saez and Zucman’s claims about the tax rates on the wealthy do not reflect a regressive shift over time. They arise almost entirely out of unconventional and contested adjustments to their previous numbers.

Casting billionaires as direct actors leading to poverty and inequality puts the actual well-being of people behind the short-term success of someone’s political agenda. Now that’s what I call injustice.

With the U.S. government taking in more taxes each year, it is clear that Americans aren’t able to use their hard-earned money for good. Perhaps that’s one of the main reasons why Americans aren’t volunteering as often as we once did.